Nog v Kongo for the #1 contender? Shows what i have been saying all along. Joe Silva is an incompetent match maker. Maybe Carmello Marrero should get the shot.

Well, if the Nogueira/Kongo and Sylvia/Vera winners fought each other, one could make a good case that they’d be the #1 contender in the division. But yeah, Nog didn’t exactly crush Herring in his UFC debut and Kongo did have the bad Marrero loss recently (although he did beat Cro Cop afterwards) so the winner of that fight alone wouldn’t really warrant the shot (yet).

Well, with the Vera vs Sylvia & Nog vs Kongo match ups set to take place soon, at least there will be a couple of top fleight contenders set to contend for the belt once Randy’s hand is healthy and/or in the aftermath of Couture vs Fedor ( assuming he EVER signs with Zuffa …

Should Fedor finally agree to come to the most logical place for him & his talents & fight Randy for the undistputed heavyweight title, then Dana & Joe Silva could make an elimination match for the #1 contender’s spot between the winners of Vera/Sylvia & Nog/Kongo for the undercard. Or, more likely, as a headliner for a seperate event a month or so later.

Then, maybe in the meantime while all that’s going on, they could find a way to resurrect Cro Cop’s career & he could be waiting in the wings for whomever comes out on top with the belt around his waist.

In all fairness, the consensus seems to be that Crocop’s performance was horrible in his last bout. Fact is, he wasn’t too bad in the 1st round of that matchup with Kongo, I believe most people had him winning the fight after the first round. Broken rib, hurt groin from the knees, who knows what happened. I believe the ribs were confirmed and the surgury of his nose is a big deal, Losing 50% of your breathing capacity is major. All of these MMA experts keep stating that it’s just excuses.

Legitimately, having a busted rib stops most people. Bill Mahood gave up immediately during the Strikeforce card. Having a 50% reduction in cardio, I don’t know if that was a big factor considering he had a broken rib already in the 2nd round, but if it was, can you imagine how tired he probably was. I say his career could be resurrected. Fixed nose, fixed rib, and hopefully some tougher referees on the constant nut shots. Crocop could at least fight his last two fights and set himself up to sit in the middle of a possible shot at a contender again.

I cannot understand why people keep saying “Tito clearly won the bout against Rashad but got a decision-draw by holding onto the fence”. Tito did not win that bout, not from what I saw anyway. Yes, Tito did stuff 3 of Rashads takedowns, but only because he gripped the fence, not due to superior grappling ability. Rashad would go to lift Tito up, Tito would react by grabbing the fence, stuffing Rashad’s takedown. The rules state that grabbing the fence to gain a favorable position is illegal because it takes away from your opponents offence. So how can Tito clearly win a bout when his main defence was holding onto the fence? It does not make sense to me because it seems like Rashad had 3-4 good chances to take Tito down. If Tito hadn’t cheated, what is not to say that Rashad takes Ortiz down and wins the bout by executing top position throughout much of the match. And about Tito’s submission at the end of round 2, he used his leverage of holding on to the fence to gain a advantageous submission. That submission is null in my mind.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Tito did not win the fight but settled for a draw. Tito cheated his way to a decision.

Maybe you should watch the fight again. Tito won the first 2 rounds. He gassed in the third round and lost that round, but Rashad is the reason why Tito won that fight. Rashad did next to nothing for 2 rounds. Tito’s fence grab saved him from a takedown, but Rashad hadn’t done a thing before that attempt. Tito stuffed takedowns? The stuffs were against horrible takedown attempts by Rashad that probably didn’t even register as aggression points with the judges. Rashad shot directly into Tito’s underhooks a few times.

Rashad lost that fight himself, whether or not you want to debate the fence grab or not. No aggression at all. Poor standup and never shot the hips with any authority.

The problem with giving them different bouts is mainly on Tito’s end. He hasn’t beaten a top contender for about 2 years now. Rashad could easily fight someone else in the lower tier of fighters in the Light Heavyweight Division. Tito is a paradox in that moving him up to a fight with someone like Silva may be a dream for marketing, and Tito would most likely fire up Silva into talking the smack game with him to hype the fight, but if Tito signs a new contract, gets destroyed by Silva, where does that leave him? Another unconvincing fight that he didn’t produce well in. Sure, the UFC can probably continue with Wanderlei on the promotion trend, but if they do re-sign Tito, obviously it would be to sell tickets. He can’t sell what he has in the past sitting at the bottom of the division.

I did watch the fight about a month ago. Still had the same opinion from the night of 73 when I was smashed (drunk). Tito looked good in the first, but stopped some of Rashad’s offence in both rounds by illegally grabbing the fence. In the 3rd round, after Rashad got comfortable he takes the fight to Tito. I just don’t see Tito winning the fight, that is all. I see it as a draw.

I will say this, if/when Rashad and Tito meet again, I do think Rashad will take it. The reason Rashad’s stand-up looked out of whack until round 3 was because of jitters. Rashad has always had that akward/athletic bobbing/weaving style, but in the Tito fight it looked especially bad. Rashad just wasn’t himself at the start because he was fighting a big name, on a big card, for the first time of his career. After Rashad got over those jitters, he took the fight to Tito in the 3rd round. In a rematch, Rashad won’t have those jitters anymore, will be more settled from the start, and take the fight to Tito earlier.

I will agree with you on one thing LR, Rashad was not looking all too shit hot that nite.

I will agree with you when I see Rashad come out a different fighter in the rematch. I think that’s why that battle will be somewhat interesting. They’ve seen each other, and it may be a somewhat different battle the second time around.